October 9th, 2009 by Ruth Jones

Social media: You don’t have a choice

I want to share a client’s thoughts on social media.

Edward Brice, is Senior Vice President of Marketing for Lumension. Here Ed talks with Fred Von Graf of New Media with Fred.

Key takeaways from the interview:

  • Social Media isn’t about generating sales; it is about advocacy and engagement.  It is about customer generated content, them sharing the experiences they are having with your product
  • Twitter is not a channel for pushing; its for listening. We will likely see this type of technology integrating into CRM systems
  • ROI? We didn’t get wrapped up in ROI, the objectives are so different. If we get leads and drive sales, it is icing on the cake, it is not why we got involved in social media. Twitter, is not a scalable medium
  • If you are not thinking about YouTube and B2B you are missing a trick
  • You need to be thinking about how many customers that you have helped via Twitter. Look at the big picture. Make a distinction between metrics and KPI
  • Social media is long term
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
emailSave to del.icio.usAdd to del.icio.usDigg This!Share on FacebookStumble It!
September 25th, 2009 by Ruth Jones

Embargo tug of war

TechCrunch’s policy on embargoes caused a ground swell of PR chatter last year, as it raised a question mark over whether the rest of the media would follow suit.  Michael Arrington’s latest post, The Last Has Fallen, The Embargo is Dead has caused a stir once again. However, the headline isn’t reflective of the policy.

The fact is.. embargoes aren’t dead, TechCrunch just wants an exclusive and won’t honour embargoes offered to the wider masses. This is fair enough. Most PRs will have been told at some point, that their story will only be covered if that journalist can have it as an exclusive. PRs should therefore consider this during planning meetings when deciding on the best method for maximising a story.

Who will win the embargo tug of war has yet to be determined. Will more publications and bloggers follow TechCrunch. Or, can we collectively keep embargoes on the agenda? Robert Scoble’s post PR people: 10 ways to screw up @techcrunch’s embargo policy makes for interesting reading.

I do agree with Arrington’s sentiment that if we want embargoes to count, we need to punish those that break them. The question is, which PRs are brave enough to do this?

emailSave to del.icio.usAdd to del.icio.usDigg This!Share on FacebookStumble It!
July 7th, 2009 by Ruth Jones

Newsjacko

As Speed HQ is set to be swamped by Harry Potter fans this evening, the World Wide Web will be flooded with Michael Jackson fans looking to get a glimpse of his funeral. The memorial service is expected to attract more attention than that of Elvis Presley and could become the biggest web event.

So, how will the internet cope? If reports that it collapsed as the news of Michael Jackson’s death broke are to believed, then it is unlikely. Whilst, TechCrunch summed up the web troubles, Interoute rightly points out, that it was not an Internet fail, but more a website capacity fail.

Although the service will be shown on five main US television networks, Internet uses are set to be logging on to check out the live streaming and latest reports. Facebook has teamed up with CNN, MySpace with AEG Live and various new sites, including The Guardian are ready to start live blogging from 4.00PM.

So, will the Internet fail? I doubt it, but you may see the odd whale.

emailSave to del.icio.usAdd to del.icio.usDigg This!Share on FacebookStumble It!
April 24th, 2009 by Ruth Jones

The 60 second tech bulletin

Oracle brass show tough love

Following one of the hottest technology acquisitions, Oracle’s senior management has expressed its tough love for Sun Microsystems’ products and people. The Register

Global hunt for hackers who infected 1.9m computers

The Federal Bureau of Investigations and Met Police are hunting a gang of Ukraine hackers responsible for a botnet that has apparently utilised more than 70 government departments and hundreds of large corporations. Financial Times

Susan Boyle YouTube Video

We might of had enough of Susan Boyle, but it doesn’t look like YouTube viewers have. Britain’s Got Talent video is on track to become the most popular video in the history of YouTube, amassing nearly 100 million views in its first nine days. Wired

emailSave to del.icio.usAdd to del.icio.usDigg This!Share on FacebookStumble It!